Hack+ ft. Durham SOUP
Spring 2021 — April Community Partnership
EthiCAL’s theme this semester is “Empowering Youth Leaders,” where we feature local and international organizations who work to give young people a voice to create change. This month we are featuring Hack+. EthiCAL Apparel is proud to be announcing our April community partnership with Hack+ and will be donating 60% of this month’s proceeds to their organization.
Hack+ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides a full-spectrum platform that enables students to launch and pursue startups, nonprofits, and events, with no fees attached through fiscal sponsorships. Through their programs, students gain access to valuable resources, organization management software, equipment, and a supportive community, fusing to create a cohesive platform for building scalable impacts.
Currently, they have 732 student founders, 65 ventures, 258 donors and have impacted over 60,000 people with their services. One of the many organizations they have supported is Durham SOUP.
Durham SOUP is a micro granting dinner aimed at supporting creative projects and promoting community-based development, founded recently in Spring 2019 by Duke University students Sofia Nieto and Ajay Menon after observing the model’s potential through the DukeEngage Program with Detroit SOUP. Durham SOUP events feature four presentations from local early-stage entrepreneurs and/or community members with creative ideas. Their venture can be at any stage, from just an idea to a fully functioning business. However, the idea must incorporate the Durham community in some way.
As a recent venture, the team at Durham SOUP applied for and received a generous grant from the NC Idea Foundation. However, due to not being a nonprofit, they needed assistance with transferring their grant. They did not want to create more problems than what would be solved, so one of their connections recommended Hack+. Hack+ helped to make everything easier for them as a team. They helped to pool their resources and create a donation page for their future events, creating easy access for the future.
Bryn Wilson, the third team member to join Durham SOUP and next leader to be, finds joy in the work she does and the community she works with. Her favorite moment is every dinner event they have hosted. Seeing the joyous faces of entrepreneurs participating and celebratory actions of everyone who won, as well as connecting with community members outside of Duke, was rewarding.
Bryn’s advice to youth seeking to do work in the community is, “It never hurts to ask for help and to reach out to people. It can be tiring to reach out and email 100 people. My team and I went through a 600 spreadsheet contact list to identify who would be a good contact and personalized how and why they should create a partnership because of their mission and values. Think about who can help you and how you can get on the phone with someone, as you never know whether that connection would help later on down the road. Lastly, expand beyond your college campus. Try not to limit yourself and try to get involved with your community.”
It is never too late to get started on your own venture! Take a course, learn about it, and get involved with your community. Learn to put yourself out there for the cause you want to fight for. If there is a team and a plan, Hack+ can be your next fiscal sponsor!
To get involved with Hack+ you can visit their platforms here:
To learn more about Durham SOUP you can visit:
Author: Sunnie Wu Editors: Vivian Kuang and Smera Patil | Graphics: Natalie Chu | Team: Social Good
